Buying A Laptop

On 24/09/2015 00:45, Ken1943 wrote:
On Wed, 23 Sep 2015 15:39:59 -0700, Old Guy
wrote:

I found a laptop I can afford and it has Win 8.1 but no touch-screen.

So how important is a touch-screen.

How similar to Win 7 is Win 8.1 ?
I can deal with Win 7 OK but not sure about Win 8.1 ?

--
If you get a program like Start8 or one of the freeware ones, you can
make the start menu look and act like Windows 7. I have never used the
8/8.1or 10 "start" menu.


And the answer to the question "How important is a touch screen?" is
"Not important at all, in fact totally unnecessary". Unless you are used
to eating with your fingers like an Arab, running your fingers over the
screen is only useful in a mobile phone, not on a laptop. You will also
spare yourself a lot of screenwipes and messy smudge marks.

In message , Char Jackson
writes
On Wed, 23 Sep 2015 15:39:59 -0700, Old Guy wrote:

I found a laptop I can afford and it has Win 8.1 but no touch-screen.

So how important is a touch-screen.

I know you asked about a touch screen, (I don't think it's important on a
laptop at all), but IMO it's much more important to get a laptop with a
lighted keyboard. In my case, that's one of those features that, once you've
used it, you wonder how you got along without it. I'm exaggerating, but only
a little.

I think backlit keyboards can be really useful, but Lenovo's little
lights that beam down from the top of the screen slightly less so.

However, I do think the convertible tablet laptops with touch and
accurate pen can be excellent for certain uses. You can just use tablet
mode in the dark. Unfortunately, the general purpose software for these
hasn't been developed enough.

I am not referring to the tablets with attachable keyboards which
generally have all the weight in the screen, which is not satisfactory.

I'm not rich enough to have tried any of the current generation laptop
convertibles.
--
Bill

Keith Nuttle écrivait news:mtvcv9$abr$1
@speranza.aioe.org:

On 9/23/2015 6:39 PM, Old Guy wrote:
I found a laptop I can afford and it has Win 8.1 but no touch-screen.

So how important is a touch-screen.

How similar to Win 7 is Win 8.1 ?
I can deal with Win 7 OK but not sure about Win 8.1 ?

With out any third party software you can make Windows 8.1 look and
feel
like a evolution of previous versions of Windows.

There are things you must do immediately after install.

1 Set Windows to boot to the desktop in the Desktop taskbar properties.

2 There is a setting so that the charms menus do not pop up. I found
it
early on and changed it If you are interested I can find the setting
but
am unsure of where it is now.

3 Make sure the Desktop taskbar Property are set to save recently used
programs and files in the Jumplist

After these are correct, I have found that every thing I want to do to
the computer can be accessed by right clicking the MS Icon on the left
end of the Desktop taskbar.

Two things that can not be done from the MS Icon that could be done in
the old Start are the view the installed programs. I have found that I
like the Windows 8.1 Start menu with the icons as it is easy to read
and
can be organized so all your common programs are in one place.

All installed programs can be found from the Apps menu (down arrow on
the start menu). All programs can be added to or removed from the
Windows 8.1 Start menu or the Desktop taskbar.

The other thing is that is not available in the MS Icon is the recently
used programs. I find the Jumplist (Right click on the program icon on
the Desktop toolbar) an excellent replacement for the same function in
the old start menu.

If you start using the MS Icon and the jumplist you will find you don't
need third party start buttons to make Windows 8.1 useable.

The jumplist is a disappointment in Windows 10. While the program
jumplist are still there, they have remove the recently opened folders
fo the jumplist of Fill Explorer. I got quite fond of it in Windows
8.1.







To have an old style "Start Menu", right-click on the taskbar, choose
"New Toolbar" when the "Open" dialog box opens point to this folder:

C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu

It will put the new toolbar at the right side of the taskbar and the
behavior reminds me of the Windows ME Start menu.

Keith Nuttle écrivait news:mtvcv9$abr$1
@speranza.aioe.org:

8.1.





Ooops, I've just realised the date of the post. :-D